Germany has the lowest birth rate among all OECD countries. To encourage fertility, the federal government has recently … fertility may be reversed through changes in public policy that allow women to combine employment and motherhood. …

What role does affordable and widely available public child care play for fertility? We exploit a major German reform … fertility. The fertility effects are more pronounced at the intensive than at the extensive margin, and are not driven by tempo … effects or selective migration. Our findings inform policy makers concerned about suboptimally low fertility by suggesting …